Day 61 - Cardio X, Back and Legs

Did my Cardio X this morning and it was good. I spent most of the day doing yard work and then spent 2 hours at the pool in the evening. I really don't feel like doing Back and Legs and I'm not going to. We'll see if I couple it with Kenpo tomorrow.

Day 60 - Cardio X, Yoga X

Good stuff. My Yoga was all broken up because I was on a call while I did it, but it was good. and effective.

Day 59 - Shoulders and Arms, Cardio X

I didn't feel like blogging the day I did this and I honestly don't remember it. I know I liked Cardio X because I almost always like it. The Shoulders and Arms workout is a good one. I know I upped most of the weights this week.

Day 58 - Plyometrics and Chest & Back

I had trouble sleeping because yesterday's decision to not work out was bothering me. I got up early this morning and fought with my work VPN for almost an hour to get logged in. My plan was to do plyo while my Monday morning call was going and I got everything set just in time. I put my phone headset on and joined the call, then started the plyo workout. It went very well, for the most part. I had to take a couple of unscheduled breaks to answer questions, but that's the price you pay for multi-tasking. I don't regret it. The before and after quad stretch pictures should prove that it didn't lower the intensity.

Chest and Back was harder than I remembered. All the pushing and pulling. Good lord. What's that all about? I got the energy smashed out of me pretty early on, but I persevered and made it to the end. Not my favorite workout by a long shot, but it does the trick. I took some mid-set breaks to increase my maximum reps on a lot of the pull-ups. I can tell I'm still getting better at them despite the long break of phase 2 and "rest week." I'm also hoping to hit the pool before I have to work tonight, even if it's just for a little while, so I really need to concentrate on getting some good, quality food in my belly and lots of it so I don't collapse.



I went to the pool for about 90 minutes and swam in the deep end diving for rockets about 60 of those minutes. I put all of my food into livestrong and it turns out - even after eating supper - I'm at -208 calories for the day. I was going to work out some more tonight, but dang!

Day 57 - Cardio X (slack)

I slept until 1:00 pm to celebrate the holiday and decided I wasn't going to work out at all. I knew better. I knew it was going to eat at my soul all day if I didn't do something. I had a good day, even though it was supposed to thunderstorm all day. The sun came out in the late afternoon and we were able to get to the pool for about 45 minutes before hell unleashed. I thought to myself "45 minutes of swimming in ice cold water is probably enough." Then we came home and laid around watching DIY until about 7pm. At that point, Steph started watching Jon and Kate plus 8 and I started to get bored and antsy. At 7:30, I decided to go down to my office/gym and work out, so I fired up Cardio X and cranked it out. I thought I was going to go ahead and do my scheduled Chest & Back, but I came up to put the kids to bed and they were wild with not-going-to-sleepness, so it ended up 10:00pm and I didn't have time for it. And it ate at my soul.

Day 56 - X Stretch (and I snuck in Kenpo X)

I got up early this morning and couldn't sleep anymore, so I raged on some Kenpo X. It also helped my sciatica. I got nice and hot and burned off all that pizza I had last night, but when I went upstairs, Steph said she wanted to go to Dairi-O for lunch. Now I love Dairi-O, but it's a love/hate kinda thing. They have deadly-delicious chili cheese dogs. They have maliciously good french fries. They have a sinister selection of ice creams. It is not something I can do lightly, in any sense of the word. We went. I got 2 chili/cheese dogs and fries. We skipped the ice cream this time. Now I want to do more cardio instead of my X Stretch.

I spent the next few hours cleaning the kitchen and my basement so I could feel like I had control of something and now I'm ready to tackle my next workout.

Day 55 - Yoga X (not)

I somehow aggravated my sciatic nerve during yesterday's Core Synergistics. I was going to try Yoga to get a good stretch in, but I ended up going to the pool instead. It opened today. My leg is feeling much better, probably from the icy arctic waters. I'm definitely going to do X Stretch tomorrow. Maybe even Kenpo X.

Day 53/54 - X Stretch/Core Synergistics

I had a very full day yesterday and I felt like I hadn't slept in weeks. I didn't have a chance to do X Stretch in the morning, at lunch time, or after work. I had hoped to do it after the kids went to bed, but I ended up falling asleep, fully clothed, with the lights on. X that.

This morning, I had a full lineup at work, so I couldn't do anything early, but I did manage to crank out Core Synergistics at 2:00-ish. Luckily, I was able to clock out for the week at 1:00 today. On a sour note, I tweaked my right-lower-back in the third exercise (Leaning Crescent Lunges) and that made the whole flippin' thing hard as hell. I was able to do everything except the Lunge-Kickback-Curl-Press, the Dreya Rolls, and the Table Dip Leg Raise (bonus round). I was surprised to find that the Lunge and Reach didn't hurt prohibitively. It still hurt, but it was a hurt I could deal with, unlike the screeching pain the Dreya Rolls caused. I still got a good workout, though, and my heart rate was really high. I don't think I've fully recovered from being exhausted yet because I got a lot more wiped after each rep than I did just a few days ago, but I hope the next few days will fix that wagon.

I hope to get X Stretch in sometime today, but I won't be terribly upset if I don't.

Day 51/52 - KenpoX/Core Synergistics

I missed my workout yesterday because of the hellishly long drive from the beach back to North Carolina, so I'm combining two days of workouts here, which is not that big of a deal. I have KenpoX today officially, which is a cardio routine, and I missed Core Synergistics yesterday, which is a strength workout. So basically, I'm doing a day much like last week. This is supposed to be a "rest" week, but I don't think this is overdoing it.

I dosed up with NO Xplode and knocked out KenpoX early this morning before work. When I was done, I didn't get the normal drop of sweat on the bridge of my nose. I had a veritable waterfall of sweat pouring off of my face and onto the mat on the floor. It was quite nice. I sped up some of the stuff, like the Jab/Cross/Hook/Uppercut because I think they go painfully slow when they start up. I also tried to make sure my intensity was up the whole time, with heaving breaths on each punch, kick, and block. I know I was working hard today and it felt pretty damned good. After that, it was shower and, after awhile, in to work for staff lunch. I'll be doing Core Synergistics later in the day.

Day 50 - YogaX

No Rest/Stretch because of the beach trip throwing me off a day. I did my Yoga today in an empty beach house. All of the rooms are small and they ALL have ceiling fans in them, so it presents a few challenges for someone my height, but I managed. I also went to the indoor pool, hot tub, and dry sauna this afternoon, so I had a full afternoon of treating my body right.

Day 48 - Golf

We played two rounds of par 3 at a 9-hole course today. I burned close to the same amount of calories as I would have with Kenpo X, so I may not do my Kenpo today. I have the choice. We'll see.

Day 47 - Legs and Back

I worked out in the beach house again whilemy friends went over to the nearby resort for some gym and pool time. I used my resistance tubes for pull-ups and I had my IronMasters here for the weighted leg exercises. I knocked out the routine and then joined my friends at the pool for about 90 minutes, which I would equate with 1 hour of Cardio X.

Day 46 - Yoga X

I rocked ou Yoga one day at the beach house. The bedroom was a little cramped, but I managed. I was soaked by the time I finished, but I made it a lot further into the routine before I got angry and bitter, so I count that as a huge success. I'm starting to look forward to Yoga in a sick sort of way because I can tell it's improving my flexibility. While I was doing my Yoga, my cohorts were out walking on the beach, so I kind of missed out on that.

Day 45 - Back and Biceps, Ab Ripper X

I worked a hellacious amount of hours in the first three days of the week and by this morning, I was wiped. Wednesday, I didn't get a chance to do my workout because I was so tired and today, I woke up late, so I didn't do my CardioX. I worked about half the day and then took off for the beach.

I got to the beach at around 4:30 or 5:00 and unpacked, set up my work computer (I'm still on-call) and unpacked my clothes. My friends were coming later, so I went ahead and jumped into my workout. I brought my Ironmasters and my resistance bands, so it was full steam ahead. All of the pull-up exercises were done on the resistance bands and I made sure to do an isometric squeeze at the peak of each rep. I got tired out quickly, so that must've worked. The dumbell stuff was standard curling, so nothing new there. I got Ab Riper X in before the fellas showed up and that wa my p90x for the day. I guess that Cardio session will just get lost to time. Yoga tomorrow. Ick.

Day 44 - Plyometrics

I slept in a little today, but I still got up and dosed myself with NO Xplode as soon as I got out of bed. It was a bit of a rough start, but once I got going, things flowed. I forgot to bring down shorts and a tank top, so I ended up doing the workout in pajamas and yesterday's shirt. It got pretty hot as evidenced by some of the shots I took. Ew.

Day 43 - CardioX; Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps; Ab Ripper X

My Cardio X was standard this morning. Empty stomach, NO Xplode. Rock it.

Chest Shoulders and Triceps - I got going at about 3:00 today after I clocked out of work and finished up around 4:00, just as I got paged on something stupid, so that was good timing. It did stop me from going right into Ab Ripper X, but it doesn't take much to dissuade me from that. The sad thing about that workout is that it should be called Hip Flexor X. Only a few of the exercises really hit the abs hard. I've thought about doing a substitute routine here that targets abs. We'll see. I'll hit Ab Ripper a little while later tonight. Here's some fun pics I took during the workout. This is me dying of Arm Circle Fatigue Syndrome:









This is me doing Y-Press with 35lbs on the Ironmasters:








Update: Ab Ripper X is stupid.

Day 42 - Yoga X

I didn't get around to it. I feel a little guilty about it, but not much.

Day 41 - Kenpo X

Once again, I have to say this is my favorite workout. Although it is some of the worst stretching for me (prayer squats hurt), I love the workout itself. I felt a little sluggish on my back kicks, but the rest of the workout was fantastic. No pictures because I didn't feel like setting up the camera.

Day 40 - Cardio X, Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

Cardio X is always good. It gets a little Yoga in without destroying my self-confidence and then jumps right into Kenpo moves, which I love. I did the empty-stomach-NO Xplode thing again and it worked out great. That plyometrics day had me kinda wigged out, but it seems to have been a fluke. I also went on-call at 8AM today, so that could throw a monkey wrench into the works, if not a whole monkey. The first workout went without a hitch, which could be a considered a good thing or the calm before the storm. Only time will tell, I guess.

Legs and Back - It was good. It was bad. My pull-ups are definitely doing better. I got at least 10 pull-ups on each of the exercises. I still got dizzy during sneaky lunges. I don't know what it is about lunges, but some of them just hork up my breathing and it's like I'm doing super cardio. My heart rate rises really high and I run out of gas. Kinda creepy.

Ab Ripper X - I have to sit on a bridge line for work tonight from 6:30pm until about 12:30 AM, so I'm saving this little nugget for the call. I'll need some activity to break up the sitting.

Day 39 - Not Yoga X

I decided I liked last week's switch, so I am going to semi-permanently move Yoga to Sunday. I did nothing today and it was awesome, especially after destroying my biceps last night.

Day 38 - CardioX, Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X

Today was so much better and I don't know why. I tried to go to sleep early last night and my precious children decided they were going to fight their bedtime. I lay down at 8:30pm and fell asleep within 5 minutes, but I got woken up a few minutes later by giggling, laughing, loud thumps of little feet jumping out of bed, etc. I think I went into their room about 7 times before I finally gave up and went back downstairs. At that point, I was so mad, I decided to watch a few episodes of Penn & Teller's Bullshit to make me laugh. It worked, and an hour later. I ended up going to bed at about 11:30 and woke up a few times during the night. I didn't get enough sleep, but I was pretty pumped for CardioX today. Go figure.

I also found a program that can control my Canon Digital Rebel XT from the computer. It has some cool functions - one of which is the time lapse feature. I set it up and set the timer to snap a shot every twenty seconds while I worked out. It functioned great, but I didn't get a lot of great pics. Most of them snapped while I was transitioning, so it looks like I'm just standing there. Also, I didn't have a long enough USB to miniUSB cable, so the desk is in all of the shots. Here's some samples:

















Back and Biceps - This time it was a little different. I used my new dumbbells and it was a whole new workout. Doing curls with the bands was interesting and different and it really made the minor stabilizer muscles sore, but overall, I think it lacked the resistance to really stimulate the major muscles. The dumbbells did the trick. I wiped out my biceps tonight and it felt damned good in a bad way or damned bad in a good way. It was positive overall, so word it however you like. I only got through part of the Ab Ripper X routine because my wife called halfway through and asked me to meet her and the kids for dinner. I'll finish it up after Yoga tomorrow.

Day 37 - Plyometrics

For some reason, plyo was really hard today. I did the usual 2 scoops of NO Xplode and waited the requisite 30 minutes. I felt the NO Xplode kick in and started. I knew within the first 15 minutes that I was going to have a hard time. I made it through, but I modified the squat reach jumps, I did jumprope during the second round of hot foot. I didn't double-time anything. I was still soaked and I got a little light headed three or four times during the workout. I also paused on a few occasions other than the water breaks.

I didn't sleep well last night and I know I didn't get even close to 7 hours of sleep, so I'm wondering if that did it. I still got a really good workout, but I need to make sure I watch my sleep before plyo days. I guess it could also be that I was low on calories yesterday, too. I'm not really sure. I'm glad it's over. I may do Kenpo tonight, though, after I've had some carbs. :)

Day 36 - CardioX, Chest Shoulders Triceps, Ab RipperX

CardioX - First thing, empty stomach, NO Xplode. I still like this combination. The Astanga Sun Salutations still tick me off at the beginning of CardioX, but at least it's not 45 minutes of them like in YogaX. When we get to Kenpo, I'm really happy. It's a little more difficult to transition into the Right Hook, Uppercut, Side Kick so quickly, so balance is an issue at first, but I get into the rhythm fairly quickly. I got pretty winded today right before the squat runs, too, so I needed a slight pause there. I always laugh when he says "Ricky(?) is getting weird on me." Also when he says the girl has the skin of a five-year-old. WTF? LOL!

CST - I used my new Ironmasters today and it was a different workout. Whew! I kinda missed using weights for my workouts and I swear I've lost some bulk since switching to p90x. I'm glad I can finally Bring It! again. My shoulders are sore and I can feel a stirring in my triceps. The only thing that's not so sore is the chest. I'm wondering if my arm endurance is hurting my chest exercises. I was lifting 100lb dumbbells for 6 reps doing BRE and I doubt I could do that now. The pushups are very taxing, but they hurt my arms more than my chest, so I may need to look into doing some flat presses and incline presses to supplement. We'll see.

Ab Ripper X - What to say, old friend? It's getting better a lot faster than the Yoga is, so that's cool, but the 20 minutes of Ab Ripper X is pure pain, whereas Yoga is in fits and starts, so it's more tolerable. I don't know which one is more deserving of my black moods.

Anywho...the Ironmasters rock. I can't wait to get quicker at changing them, though. I've also considered getting a set of those little aerobics dumbbells so I don't have to bother changing for 5lb and 10lb weights. Time will tell.

Day 35 - YogaX Switcheroo

I did my Yoga today and "enjoyed" it immensely. Every move hurts. The balance poses are so difficult for me that I tumble a lot around the Warrior 3 section. My leg burns before he's halfway done with that stuff. I am getting more flexible. That is for sure. I thought it would go more quickly, but it is just coming in small increments. I notice that I can go slightly lower each time I run through this mystical masochism. The only thing I can do with no problem is the happy baby and the Om. Anyway, I'm glad it's over and I'm glad I did it. Now to enjoy my overcast, sporadically rainy Sunday. I'll try to add a picture of the Ironmasters later.

Day 34 - Kenpo X and THE ARRIVAL

I did my Kenpo this morning and had a blast as usual. I still don't like the stretching on this video, but the cardio kicks ass, almost literally. If I could get some choice people in my basement to act as targets, I would love this workout even more.

My ironmasters came in today. The UPS guy dropped them on my patio and bolted. I think he was mad that they were so heavy. I slapped 'em on my dolly and carted them around the house to the basement. It took awhile to put the baser together and pull everything out of the plastic, but I got it done. I can't wait to use them.

Day 33 - Cardio X, Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X

Don't feel much like blogging today. I had good workouts and rocked it like a hurricane. My dumbbells should be here tomorrow. Excitement grows.